For the purposes of coiling wire of non-circular cross-section, as is produced in particular in extruders, wire coilers with a rotating winding drum are required since these wind the wire in a twist-free manner, unlike the wire coilers with a stationary drum and a rotating laying tube. If a particularly fast cooling of the wire, which issues from a rolling mill or an extruder hot as a result of rolling or extrusion, is necessary in order to prevent its oxidation and scale formation and/or to give rise to a particular structural development in the wire, the winding drums of the wire coilers used are immersed in a water tank, wherein the components--rotating in the water--of these wire coilers are to be formed as rotational bodies of the greatest possible smoothness in order to prevent energy-dissipating turbulence of the water in the tank. For reasons of standardization, keeping replacement parts and possible subsequent installation of a water tank, it is advantageous to provide a uniform design of the wire coiler, even without a water tank.
The aforesaid requirements of wire coilers are fulfilled by the use of a winding drum which is open towards the top and formed by an outer and an inner casing or wall and a base connecting the said outer and inner casings, which winding drum is flanged onto a vertical shaft and is rotatable therewith, wherein the inner casing of the winding drum is breached by vertical slots and wherein an annular disc, inserted into the winding drum and carrying the turns of the wire coil being formed, is connected to a lifting device by means of radial inward projections or arms passing through the slots, by which lifting device the supporting surface of the disc can be lifted above the winding drum to be positioned level with the transfer plane for the wire coils. These wire coilers, which are widely used in practice, are known for example from German patent specifications 45 201, and 1 752 791 and, in connection with a water tank in which the winding drum is immersed, the shaft of which is guided through the base of the water tank, from German patent specification 1 959 972.
In the case of wire coilers of this type, the rotating lifting device connected to the disc is housed centrally in the shaft for the winding drum, which shaft is hollow.
Although this requires great structural expenditure with correspondingly high costs and prevents the use of standardized structural elements, preference was given to the generic connection of the disc to the lifting device by means of arms projecting through the slots in the inner casing as opposed to a connection of the disc to the lifting device through the base of the winding drum (German patent specification 197 149) or the outer casing (German patent specification 44 693) since these designs are less suitable or unsuitable in the case of a winding drum immersed in a water tank.
The aim of the invention is to attain a structural simplification of a wire coiler permitting extensive use of standardized structural elements (gearing, piston-cylinder units), while the rotating components are formed of rotational bodies of the greatest possible smoothness, with the result that the wire coiler can be operated also in connection with a water tank with an immersed winding drum and water turbulence can be largely avoided.